Night Time
by Fallon Kristerson
Summary: It was the time Ash felt more alive. Banana Fish Rare Pair Week Ash/Shorter


Day 4 for the #BFRarePairWeek: Free day

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**Night Time**

Ash had always been a creature of the night. As a kid he would lie in bed awake, just looking up to the ceiling, feeling the itch to get up, get out and play. As a teenager he would actually slip out through the window. And finally, as a college student he could just leave like a normal person through the front door. It wasn't like he was a flop during the day, no. Ash was the perfect example of an op protagonist: perfect grades, ridiculously good looking, good at sports and popular. Whatever. And yet when he left the house at night, it was like he was just waking up and starting his day. He liked how easily he could go down in the crowd, wander around the lights until he would eventually get to where he was going. If he was going somewhere.

Shorter would always wait on the same spot. By his side some paper bag with the end of a bottle barely peeking out. As he gets up to him, he smiles and greets with some lame joke, and as Ash rolls his eyes and sits down by his side, he slings an arm around his shoulder.

"Sunny, isn't it?" He grinned at his friend and got a middle finger in return.

Shorter would use his sun glasses even at night and Ash had given up on trying to make him take them off. It had gotten to the point where his best friend would look like a completely different person if he took them off. Not that he wouldn't pester him about it.

He liked pushing his hair back, looking over the frame of his shades. He would stare down at him, as if trying to pin him. Shorter would laugh and comment that his gayness was showing. Ash always rolled his eyes and smacked him on the head.

"Are you scared that I will seduce me?" Ash would mock and Shorter always answered:

"Do I look like an old creeper to you?"

And they laughed, because that's what they did the most. Ah knew Shorter's laugh better than his actual speaking voice. And he loved it, it made the numbness in the back of his head feel like drunken happiness and not the result of the liters of beer he had up to that point.

As Shorter's fingers trailed the sewing line of his shirt, Ash downed what was left of the bottle. It would be another half an hour or an hour until the whole clique got together. They argued what they wanted to do that night, eventually hitting up the new club someone heard of. As they waited in the line, Ash observed from the corner of his eye how his best friend smiled at some girls, bringing out his best flirting act. Which was also his worst one, but who was Ash to judge his disaster bi friend. The girls would laugh at him and Shorter would love it.

"Are you guys alone? No female company?" one of the girls, a cute, short Latina, teased and Shorter beamed at her.

"That depends on you and your friends," he answered and the girls friend rolled her eyes, but she didn't reply. She was staring at Ash and he could clearly feel her interest. He smiled at her and as his friends kept running their tongues, the girls slipped into the line, right before them. They didn't complain at all and followed them to the bar. The drinks started coming and the girls didn't go away and they merged into a one group. As some of them went to dance, that one girl leaned casually on his side. Ash smiled and payed for two shots more.

"I didn't get to hear your name" she chirped.

"Ash!" He raised his voice over the loud music and she nodded.

"I'm Alissa!" She had a really low-cut cleavage and he would be lying if he said he didn't follow it with his eyes. She didn't seem to mind and rather laughed it off as she said something he couldn't hear. He opted for the easy solution and took her to the dance floor too.

He saw a flash of his best friend and some other girl pressed against him. His arms were around her tiny waist as they grinded in harmony with the bass, but before he could actually stare, Alissa got into his personal space again, smiling at him. It was easy to go with the flow, he had done this so many times it was almost natural to glide his arms around her, moving against her body. They danced for what felt like hours, or maybe less, before he found himself dancing with some other girl. Her hair was darker, longer, and her moves smoother. And then someone different came, and someone else, and another girl. She smiled seductively and he smiled back. He didn't think much about it when he leaned against her and chased her mouth. She kissed back, wrapping her arms around his neck. As his fingers skimmed her lower back, he could feel as if he was watched. They broke apart and he danced with another girl. He didn't mind when this one kissed him first, he kissed back until he grew bored of it.

He excused himself as he slipped off the dance floor. He looked around, trying to find any of his friends. However, the club was so full of people and the lights either too low or too bright, making it impossible to even recognize where he was standing. Somehow, he managed to find the bathroom. The music volume was slightly lower there, and someone was slumping against the wall besides the sinks.

He blinked as he recognized Shorter and laughed as he looked into the lavabo closer to his friend.

"Dude, at least do that in the toilet," he laughed and Shorter just shrugged it off. "And your girls?" he inquired and Shorter shrugged again, snickering.

"Who knows… Disappeared as I went to get shots. I had to drink them all alone!"

"Aww, poor you… But I wouldn't call it 'drink' if you throw them up minutes after," Ash muttered. Shorter was holding onto the lavabo, seemingly about to fall to the side. He went up to him to help stabilize him, and his friend giggled, clinging up to him.

"Damn, I can still smell your rich boy cologne. You haven't danced with enough people yet!"

Ash laughed and pulled him out of the restroom. Shorter could barely walk, let alone dance, yet he somehow managed to drag him back to the dance floor. Some hip-hop song Ash didn't know was blasting from the speakers and it was enough to keep his friend from crashing to the ground. He pushed himself away from Ash, just a bit to be able to move his arms along the flowy rhythm without slapping him on the face. Ash followed, moving closer as he was pushed from behind. He didn't know what time it was but people kept coming, the place was fuller than an anthill. He stepped on Shorter's foot and his friend slapped his chest. Ash laughed and mouthed 'sorry', shrugging and hugging him to appease him and save space at the same time. He ignored his terrible singing and screaming, swinging a bit too slow to the music. Shorter turned around when his face was awkwardly against some other dude's neck, and then Ash noticed he wasn't wearing his glasses. They were squished between their chests and Shorter's eyes looked especially dark in the dancing light. Shorter smiled, hugging back.

They went to the bar to get some drinks more, but when they realized they had definitely lost the rest of their crew, they decided to leave. Shorter slung his arms around his shoulder as they stumbled out of the club. The music now sounded very far away, as if it was just an afterthought in the back of their heads. Shorter hummed lowly and was weirdly jerking around, Ash figured he was still sort of dancing. The last song following them as they stumbled upon a park. Seeing there was no one around to annoy them, they just crashed the grass. Ash closed his eyes for a second (or maybe longer) and then blinked upwards.

The sky was a pale, blueish violet; the first birds were chirping already. It had to be around four or five in the morning. Shorter was snoring slightly, yet when Ash turned onto his side, opened an eye.

"What is it, honey? Can't sleep?"

"You haven't told me my goodnight story" Ash pouted. Shorter laughed and got onto his side too.

"I did tell you a nice story in the club though."

"The girl that left you?"

"Well, we did hit it up in the bathroom."

"Maybe she didn't like the taste," Ash joked and Shorter stuck out his tongue.

"At least I got some. That's why I'm tired."

He yawned and curled up, mumbling something about nice tits and having to go back to that club.

Ash sighed and got back onto his back, looking up into the sky. It looked even more infinite when still dark, and the light was making everything a bit smaller. The night seems suddenly very short, the hours they spent in the club now were just mere minutes, just half an hour ago he met Shorter and his bottle in a paper bag. And yet he felt really tired.

"You didn't give me my goodnight kiss," he whispered.

Shorter opens again an eye.

"I could swear you got a lot of goodnight kissed tonight, you man slut."

Ash huffed.

"You're in no position to speak. And besides, those were not goodnight kisses. Just some pecks."

Both laughed and Shorter pushed himself up, leaning on his elbow.

"No? So, what am I supposed to do about it?"

Ash grinned at him.

"Don't ever call me a slut again."

"Sorry, no can do," Shorter taunted and slowly leaned down.

Ash stared right into his eyes, not wavering when their mouths met. A hand shot up to caress Shorter's cheek and he didn't hold back his tongue, not even when Shorter tried to bite him. When they broke apart, Shorter just laid down on top of him.

"Now be a good boy and serve as a pillow," he mumbled.

Ash snorted, but didn't push him off. Shorter was a nice blanket after all.


End file.
